Monthly Wrap-Up: I’m Quite Grateful It’s The End of April!

 

I’m honestly quite satisfied with my schedule for April. I got lots of reviews out, and an amalgam of books read and posts scheduled for the upcoming weeks. I’ll try my best with May, but we’ll see how it goes, considering my exam schedule.

If you’ve seen my semi-hiatus post here, you’ll know that I’ll be a very very busy bee. In fact, right now I’m probably holed up in a study cave with an amalgam of colored pens, fervently studying. This school year has been… surprising, with how much I’ve slacked off. I guess to someone else’s standards it’s fine, but I’m a bit disappointed in myself with how far I’ve tried to reach this school year. (Which isn’t that far, I guess.) Either way, that’ll be changing as I get ready to go to college. I guess I should enjoy life as it is now, right? Carpe diem and all that jazz.

(Btw we watched Dead Poet’s Society in English the other day and I fell in love with the movie all over again.)

• The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi | Perfect in almost every way. It had luscious writing, the most incredible characters, and a world that I wanted to trap myself in. | 5 stars
• A Criminal Magic by Lee Kelly | Okay, but what’s not to love in a book set during the Prohibition Era, where magic is against the law? We got mobsters, gangs, characters that are on opposite sides of the law, and a scorching romance. | 4 stars
• Wanderlost by Jen Malone | In this review, I give readers a tour of what to expect when reading this book. While the situation was horribly unrealistic, it still made for a cute summer read with life lessons. | 3 stars
• The Summer of You & Me | This time, we get transported to a summer at camp! Cute guys on wheelchairs, very very odd use of a certain colloquial phrase, and random conflicts made it a quick, fluffy read. | 3 stars
• The Wedding Pact by Katee Robert | I need to go back to the first book of this series, but this mafia-type story was not what I had in mind. An annoying main character and plot full of romance rather than action had me a bit disappointed. | 3 stars
• The Unexpected Everything by Morgan Matson | HOLY CRAP, every time I think of this book, my heart just wants to burst. It touches on family dynamics, friendships, and young love so beautifully I just want to reread it all over again, despite its length. Definitely one of my fave contemporaries. | 5 stars
• Letters From A Fictional Life by Kenneth Logan | A very cute read of the journey of a boy coming out, and the letters he writes to people with words he can’t seem to say aloud. The words were very direct, but his attitude made me a bit exasperated. It was a really nice ending though, and the character relationships were quite realistic. | 3 stars
• The Crown’s Game by Evelyn Skye | Aka one of my most disappointing reads of this year yet. I had been loving the hell out of it and all the promotion behind it until I actually read the book. In the words of Mana from Book Voyagers, “Everyone was falling in love with everyone else,” and Joey from Thoughts and Afterthoughts, “WTF IS THIS HOME MAKEOVER SHOW.” Words have never been so accurate to describe a book. | 3 stars
• Summer of Sloane by Erin L Scheider | As if I’m not already tired of contemporary books set in the summer! What happens when your boyfriend gets your best friend pregnant? Sloane sets out for a summer in Hawaii to rediscover herself, as well as fall in love with a cute surfer guy. For some reason this book is fixated on the concept of cheating and every character either done it, had it done to them, or is accused of doing so. | 3 stars

I also reviewed these books on Happy Indulgence:

• Stitching Snow by RC Lewis | I actually read it a while ago but really liked it so I did a review. Yes, it’s yet another fairy tale retelling set in space, but it really stands out on its own and is full of feels! | 4 stars
• Ruined by Amy Tintera | A forgettable fantasy that is a bit reminiscent of the author’s first duology, where the main character completely forgets her tough attitude in favor of falling in love with the love interest. The twist at the end was worth the read though. | 3.5 stars
• Girl Against the Universe by Paula Stokes | I’m getting really lucky with contemporaries, because this one also became an all-time-fave. Quirky characters, an awkward but adorable romance, and therapy sessions that will make you laugh out loud. Btw you should totally check out my fanart in that page. | 5 stars

GUEST POST

• Guest Post: The Places That Inspired Unicorn Tracks by Julie Embers | Check out the awesome places Julie went to, which are featured in her debut novel!

FANART FRIDAY

• Fanart Friday #4: The Star-Touched Queen and Watercolor + Digital Edits | My art process for the at-first watercolor, and then digitally edited, fanart for The Star-Touched Queen and the ship of all ships. To say I enjoyed this book would be an understatement.

DISCUSSIONS

• On Happy Indulgence – Chatterbox: To Finish Or Not To Finish? | In which I discuss not finishing books, the merits, and perhaps the setbacks. And maybe a little Shakespeare quote that I modified for my own use.
• Top 5 Pet Peeves in YA Contemporary | We’ve all read these. And we’ve all (or most of us) have rolled our eyes because of them. Check out some things that downgrade a contemporary novel from 4 stars to a 3, for me.

 

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I hope everyone has been reading the raddest books! With the rest of the energy I have left, *hugs*